Shot-spreader.



No. 820,459. PATENTED MAY 15, 1906.

J. M. WHITE. SHOT SPREADER.

APPLICATION FILED APRJI. 1906.

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UNITE STATES PATENT @FFICE.

JOHN M. WHITE, OF WARE SHOALS, SOUTH CAROLINA.

SHOT-SPREADER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 15, 1906.

Application filed April 11, 1905. Serial No. 254,989.

To all whom it nuty concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN M. WHITE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ware Shoals, in the county of Greenwood and State of South Carolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shot-Spreaders, of which the following is a specification.

. This invention relates to shot-spreaders, and has for its object to procure a device of the character mentioned which can be cheaply manufactured and which when placed in a shot cartridge, as will be hereinafter described, will act to scatter or spread the shot.

It is a well-known fact to those familiar with the use and construction of shotguns that different types of barrels are used to obtain the best results for long and short range shooting. For the former a long choke-bored barrel is used and for the latter a short cylinder-bored barrel. As is well known to those familiar in the art, the term choke-bore signifies a barrel having a muzzle with a smaller diameter than the breech and cylinder-bore a barrel in which the bore has the same diameter throughout. It will be readily seen that a choke-bored gun will prevent the shot from spreading, and thus produce a close pattern at comparatively long ranges. It frequently happens, however, that a man with a choke-bored gun desires to do some brush-shooting. In this case he is at a very great disadvantage, because what is required will be quick shooting at short range, and it will be desirable that the shot spread as much as possible. By the use of my device this disadvantage will be overcome, as will be hereinafter described.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a loaded shot-cartridge, showing my device in position. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the shot-spreader.

The shot-spreader as made by me is approximately conical in shape and is constructed of some light material, such as wood or paer. p The numeral 1 designates the base of the cone, which, as shown in Fig. 1, rests against the wad 2, placed-over the shot. The vertex 3 of the cone passes through the shot 4 and rests upon the wads 5, placed over the powder 6. The sides of the cone are preferably made concave, as shown at 7, to form a long taperproducing a maximum angle between the sides and the plane of the base and also of cutting away material which would otherwise occupy valuable space in the cartridge. In view of the fact that the vertex of the spreader 1 is in contact with the powder-wads 5 the spreader will effectively resist compres sion of the shot 4, whereby the same would ordinarily be flattened, detracting from the results which may be attained in the shooting, for reasons which will be obvious. It is obvious that, if desirable, the base of the cone could be made elliptical, hexagonal, or square without departing from the spirit of the invention.

A strong feature of my invention'resides in the fact that one size of the shot-spreader may be used in any of the standard gage shells.

The operation of the device is as follows: When the firearm is discharged, the shot and spreader are forced to the muzzle of the gun together, but on account of its lightness the momentum of the shot-spreader will not be as great as that of the shot, and owing to its size it will ofler much resistance to the air. Consequently the shot will push forward faster than the shot-spreader, and thus be wedged apart.

It will thus be understood that I have produced a device which is extremely simple in construction, effective in operation, and which can be very cheaply manufactured.

What I claim is In combination with a cartridge having the powder 6 in its powder-space, the powderwads 5, the shot 4, the spreader 1 comprising a conical body, the sides of which are con caved or curve inwardly toward the vertex thereof to form a long tapering tail, the vertex of the body terminating in contact with the powder-wads 5, the base of the spreader being arranged toward the mouth of the cartridge, the shot 4 surrounding the body of the spreader 1 throughout the length of the same, and the wad 2 for preventing displacement of the spreader and closing the mouth of the cartridge.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN M. WHITE. [L. s.]

Witnesses:

W. G. HUGHES, J. L. ELLIOTT. 

